"We are suffering because of the inaction of the previous government. Policy paralysis and poor execution by erstwhile government is to be blamed for this situation,” Goyal told reports after holding an emergency meeting with Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and other top officials.

“Lack of proper planning and decision making in last 12 years resulted into power crisis,” Goyal added.

Earlier on Monday, Delhi sizzled at 45.5 degree Celsius, six notches above normal and hottest temperature for the month of June in last ten years in the city.

Goyal announces 400 MW additional power

Goyal said that an additional four hundred Megawatt of power is to be generated in the national capital by Tuesday evening.

“NTPC under the Central government has agreed to release as much power as required by Delhi to bring in some relief,” he said.

The Met Department has said the heat wave in city will continue till Thursday.

The power crisis has turned into a perfect political storm with parties trading charges to fix responsibility. The BJP is holding the Congress, which governed the capital for 15 years till it was evicted in last year’s assembly election, responsible for the current situation.

The Aam Aadmi Party, which ruled Delhi for 49 days, is targeting the BJP as well as Congress for the crisis.

More than 20 AAP MLAs on Tuesday staged a protest outside Union Minister Harsh Vardhan's house in East Delhi demanding urgent steps by the Centre to improve electricity supply in the city.

Congress leaders had on Monday locked Delhi Chief Secretary SK Srivastava in his room for over one-and-a-half hours, demanding immediate improvement in the supply of power and water in the national capital.

The Lieutenant Governor had on Sunday issued few directives to control the current power problem which included snapping power supply to malls after 10 pm.

Jung had also ordered that high mast halogen lamps in the streets, which consume more power, should be switched off during night peak hours to conserve energy.

Government establishments, including Delhi Secretariat and other government offices, universities, colleges have been advised to switch off air conditioning between 3.30 and 4.30 PM to conserve power during day peak hours.

Long outages push Delhi into darkness

Large parts of the national capital plunged into darkness on Monday evening with outages lasting for several hours.

Moreover, the blistering heat made life miserable for the residents.

With no electricity, it was a common sight to see people sitting outside and fanning themselves while cursing the power distribution companies.

"It's like I have travelled back in time. These long power cuts used to happen when I was a kid. I think this is the worst power crisis the city has witnessed in more than a decade," said 26-year-old Ruby Kapoor of West Delhi's Dwarka locality.

54-year-old homemaker Anita Singh had no choice but to sit in a park near her home in south Delhi's Gulmohar Park as the long power cut drained her inverter's batteries.

"I sat for almost three hours in the park with my family as the house felt like a furnace. We even had our dinner there," she said.

The city is reeling under record sizzling temperatures, and irregular power and water supply have only worsened the situation.

DPCC President Arvinder Singh Lovely along with party workers showing a letter to the media regarding the assurance given by Delhi Chief Secretary on the problem of electricity, after a protest by them over the issue at Delhi Secretariat in New Delhi

Delhi's power cuts due to inadequate transmission lines

The Power Ministry has blamed the lack of adequate transmission lines for the crisis.

As per top ministry officials, transmission lines have not been completed on time and are the main reason for the shortages in the national capital.

Separately, the ministry officials said NTPC, the country's largest power producer, is ready to surrender three million standard cubic metres a day of its requirement of gas for the Delhi government's Bawana plant, if the need arises.

Power department officials said a 220 KV transmission line in Maharanibagh and another major transmission line in Patparganj tripped on Monday resulting in long outages in many parts of East and North Delhi.

"There is no shortage of power. The situation has worsened because of problem in the transmission network," said another official.

The BSES discoms, following government’s order, have come out with schedule for load shedding in areas under their jurisdiction.

The discoms have also started implementing Lt Governor Najeeb Jung's instruction to snap power supply to shopping malls after 10 pm and to switch off street lights during peak hours.

Officials said that the damage caused to three main 220kV Transmission Lines of Delhi Transco in the storm was the main reason behind the long outages.

They said that the breakdown of the 220kV Badarpur-Noida- Ghazipur line of UP Transmission Company Ltd on June 7 had also complicated the situation.

Measures to curb power crisis

Snapping power supply to shopping malls after 10 pm and switching off street lights during peak hours were some of the measures ordered by Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung as temporary steps to deal with the situation.

Jung had also asked the citizens to come forward and help conserve energy by running their air-conditioners at 25 degrees centigrade or above and take all measures at home and offices to save electricity.

Jung had ordered that high mast halogen lamps in the streets, which consume more power, should be switched off during night peak hours to conserve energy.

Government establishments, including Delhi Secretariat and other government offices, universities, colleges have been advised to switch off air conditioning between 3.30-4.30 pm to conserve power during the peak hours.

This does not include emergency services and critical institutions such as hospitals etc.

Mercury likely to touch 46 degrees in Delhi

The national capital will continue to face the blistering heat on Tuesday with the minimum temperature recorded two notches above the season's average at 30.1 degrees Celsius. The Met Office has forecast a clear day ahead.

"The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 46 degrees Celsius," said an official of the India Meteorological Department.

Humidity at 8.30 am was 52 percent.

On June 9, Delhi witnessed the hottest day in the last five years. It was also the hottest day of the season. The maximum temperature settled at 45.5 degrees Celsius, six notches above the season's average.

As per the Met Office, no respite is expected from the intense heat wave in the city and the maximum temperature is expected to be about 46 degrees Celsius in the next few days.